Defiant Warne wonders what all the fuss was about

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A chatty Shane Warne behaved as if nothing had changed as he
talked publicly on Wednesday for the first time since the break-up
of his marriage, vowing not to let the cricketing world glimpse the
effects of the weeks of scandal that culminated this week in his
sacking by Channel Nine.

Australia's record-breaking, controversial leg spinner, who has
joined the Ashes squad and pledged his determination to finish his
final Test tour of England on a high, strolled into a press
conference at the Australian team hotel in Kensington - for which
extra security was laid on - looking relaxed, a state of mind that
was reflected by the pair of thongs he wore with his team
tracksuit.

"Too much practice, probably," Warne quipped when asked how he
intended to focus single-mindedly on mesmerising England after
several weeks of upheaval in his personal life.

"Over a period of time, whatever happens in your life you just
have to deal with it, there's no use labouring on an issue or
dragging your behind across the floor for a while," said Warne,
facing the English press for the first time since the London
tabloids published allegations of dalliances with women other than
his wife, Simone.

"You have to get up. Those sorts of things make you stronger
that you go through in your life. I'm sure if you were in my
position and you had your private life splashed all over the place
it might be interesting reading about all you guys, too. It's
disappointing and it's tough, but my job is to play the best
cricket I possibly can, [and] I've got no doubt I can do that.

"I think I bring something to the Australian team, not just my
bowling, but my experience and I suppose a little bit of that
X-factor as well.

"I've never played in a losing Ashes series. A few of the guys
have only played in one or two [Ashes series], I've played in a
hell of a lot. I know a lot of the [England] players, I know the
way they play, I've got a general good feeling about the psyche of
their guys. I think I bring a lot to our table in the team."

Warne shared drinks in the hotel bar on Tuesday night with some
of the Australian players who had just wrapped up the one-day
series over England, and said he had been welcomed back into the
squad after several months of county cricket with Hampshire.

"I'm sure Ricky [Ponting] will be happy to have me back and all
my teammates have been fantastic with their support. I think all
the guys have been looking forward to having me back, contrary to
what some people think.

"... How I feel privately and what I do when I walk out of my
hotel room and get to play, I won't let you guys know if I'm happy,
sad or whatever. I'll just be me every single time I play. That's
how it's got to be. I'm actually doing OK, and I'm looking forward
to the Tests."

Warne, 35, gave the impression he had not yet decided whether to
press ahead with his recently publicised plans to live permanently
in England, where he has become juicy fodder for some of the
tabloids. "I'm working [on] all that at the moment, to be honest;
for the moment I am just living here," he said.

Warne's captain and his coach, John Buchanan, have each
expressed confidence that the leg spinner will be able to separate
personal matters from professional duties when the battle for the
Ashes begins, unlike England batsman Graham Thorpe and former
Australian opener Michael Slater, who went off the rails in
different ways after their marriage splits.

Warne was very much his old self on Wednesday: he talked up
England and his Hampshire teammate Kevin Pietersen, whom he
described as "the most destructive player in England", ruled out a
return to one-day cricket under the new rules and expressed
confidence in his country's chances of holding off an England side
that "can compete for the Ashes for the first time really since
1989".

"I think they've started to peak at the right time," Warne said
of his fellow Australians.